Plastic cards such as financial cards including credit and debit cards, identification cards, driver's licenses, and other personalized plastic cards are typically personalized with personal information of the intended card holder. Examples of personalization include, but not are limited to, names, addresses, photographs, account numbers, employee numbers, or the like. The personal information may be applied to the card in a number of different ways including, but not limited to, printing on a surface of the document, storing the information on a magnetic stripe disposed on the card, and storing the information on an integrated circuit chip or smart chip embedded in the card.
In some cases, the plastic cards are personalized using a desktop card printer that has a relatively small footprint intended to permit the desktop card printer to reside on a desktop and that is designed to personalize cards in relatively small volumes, for example measured in tens or low hundreds per hour. An example of a desktop printer is the CD800 Card Printer available from Entrust Datacard Corporation of Shakopee, Minn.
Desktop card printers are typically designed to be relatively small so that the printers can fit onto a desk or table. The desktop card printer may be positioned on a support surface with other office machines and workspace, so that table and desk space is at a premium. Therefore, the amount of desk or table space required for the desktop card printer (i.e., its “footprint”) should be minimized.
At the same time, it is desirable that a desktop card printer be able to perform multiple card processing operations, thereby increasing the performance capability of the desktop card printer.
Additionally, desktop card printers should be easy to operate and maintain with only a minimal amount of specialized training. Desktop card printers are often operated by personnel for whom producing cards is only an incidental portion of their job, such as a security guard or a desk clerk, and not by personnel who have special training in such equipment. The operation and maintenance of the card printer should thus be relatively intuitive and straightforward. Furthermore, the cards that are output from the card printer must be of the highest quality, attractive, and durable.